Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they anticipate works will commence on the refurbishment or reconstruction of the Eastbourne District General Hospital.
Answered by Lord Markham
We are committed to delivering a new hospital at Eastbourne District General Hospital which forms part of the New Hospital Programme (NHP) scheme for East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust; this also includes works at Conquest Hospital and Bexhill Community Hospital. All NHP schemes represent hospitals that require a high need for investment in the estate and have been assessed based on a combination of criteria including the level of Critical Infrastructure Risk and deliverability upon joining the programme. We are working closely with the trust to support the development of their Strategic Outline Case and identify opportunities for early construction work to support main scheme delivery. The New Hospital Programme has provided over £9 million in scheme development funding up to the end of 2022/23, and a further £4.7 million was provided in 2023/24 to support the development of business cases for early enabling works to take place.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what funds they have made available for the reconstruction or refurbishment of Eastbourne General District Hospital.
Answered by Lord Markham
We are committed to delivering a new hospital at Eastbourne District General Hospital which forms part of the New Hospital Programme (NHP) scheme for East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust; this also includes works at Conquest Hospital and Bexhill Community Hospital. All NHP schemes represent hospitals that require a high need for investment in the estate and have been assessed based on a combination of criteria including the level of Critical Infrastructure Risk and deliverability upon joining the programme. We are working closely with the trust to support the development of their Strategic Outline Case and identify opportunities for early construction work to support main scheme delivery. The New Hospital Programme has provided over £9 million in scheme development funding up to the end of 2022/23, and a further £4.7 million was provided in 2023/24 to support the development of business cases for early enabling works to take place.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the need to refurbish or reconstruct Eastbourne District General Hospital.
Answered by Lord Markham
We are committed to delivering a new hospital at Eastbourne District General Hospital which forms part of the New Hospital Programme (NHP) scheme for East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust; this also includes works at Conquest Hospital and Bexhill Community Hospital. All NHP schemes represent hospitals that require a high need for investment in the estate and have been assessed based on a combination of criteria including the level of Critical Infrastructure Risk and deliverability upon joining the programme. We are working closely with the trust to support the development of their Strategic Outline Case and identify opportunities for early construction work to support main scheme delivery. The New Hospital Programme has provided over £9 million in scheme development funding up to the end of 2022/23, and a further £4.7 million was provided in 2023/24 to support the development of business cases for early enabling works to take place.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there will be an alternative salary threshold for (1) recent graduates, (2) PhD holders, and (3) academics, following the planned increase to the salary threshold for skilled overseas workers.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Our Points Based System enables the Government to prioritise the skills and talent we need to help our economy grow and support our NHS, while encouraging investment in, and protecting, our own resident workforce. In arriving at this package of measures, we have been mindful of the need to balance the impacts on economic growth and the needs of the labour market. The Graduate route remains the best opportunity for international graduates from UK universities to find a job in the UK labour market, including through graduate programmes.
In due course, the Government will provide further details on the implementation of these measures (including on salaries and transitional arrangements), which are due to come in to force by Spring 2024.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the increase to the salary threshold for skilled overseas workers (1) will only apply to cases submitted after the threshold introduction date, or (2) will apply to cases that have been submitted but have not yet been considered.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Our Points Based System enables the Government to prioritise the skills and talent we need to help our economy grow and support our NHS, while encouraging investment in, and protecting, our own resident workforce. In arriving at this package of measures, we have been mindful of the need to balance the impacts on economic growth and the needs of the labour market. The Graduate route remains the best opportunity for international graduates from UK universities to find a job in the UK labour market, including through graduate programmes.
In due course, the Government will provide further details on the implementation of these measures (including on salaries and transitional arrangements), which are due to come in to force by Spring 2024.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the announcement of an increase to the salary threshold for skilled overseas workers, whether the salary threshold will be higher for people with children who are not British citizens.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Our Points Based System enables the Government to prioritise the skills and talent we need to help our economy grow and support our NHS, while encouraging investment in, and protecting, our own resident workforce. In arriving at this package of measures, we have been mindful of the need to balance the impacts on economic growth and the needs of the labour market. The Graduate route remains the best opportunity for international graduates from UK universities to find a job in the UK labour market, including through graduate programmes.
In due course, the Government will provide further details on the implementation of these measures (including on salaries and transitional arrangements), which are due to come in to force by Spring 2024.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the announcement of an increase to the salary threshold for skilled overseas workers, whether the salary threshold will be higher for those seeking indefinite leave to remain.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Our Points Based System enables the Government to prioritise the skills and talent we need to help our economy grow and support our NHS, while encouraging investment in, and protecting, our own resident workforce. In arriving at this package of measures, we have been mindful of the need to balance the impacts on economic growth and the needs of the labour market. The Graduate route remains the best opportunity for international graduates from UK universities to find a job in the UK labour market, including through graduate programmes.
In due course, the Government will provide further details on the implementation of these measures (including on salaries and transitional arrangements), which are due to come in to force by Spring 2024.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when in the spring the increase to the salary threshold for skilled overseas workers will come into effect; and whether a consultation will take place.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Our Points Based System enables the Government to prioritise the skills and talent we need to help our economy grow and support our NHS, while encouraging investment in, and protecting, our own resident workforce. In arriving at this package of measures, we have been mindful of the need to balance the impacts on economic growth and the needs of the labour market. The Graduate route remains the best opportunity for international graduates from UK universities to find a job in the UK labour market, including through graduate programmes.
In due course, the Government will provide further details on the implementation of these measures (including on salaries and transitional arrangements), which are due to come in to force by Spring 2024.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what impact the planned increase to the salary threshold for skilled overseas workers will have on graduate programmes due to commence in September 2024.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Our Points Based System enables the Government to prioritise the skills and talent we need to help our economy grow and support our NHS, while encouraging investment in, and protecting, our own resident workforce. In arriving at this package of measures, we have been mindful of the need to balance the impacts on economic growth and the needs of the labour market. The Graduate route remains the best opportunity for international graduates from UK universities to find a job in the UK labour market, including through graduate programmes.
In due course, the Government will provide further details on the implementation of these measures (including on salaries and transitional arrangements), which are due to come in to force by Spring 2024.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the prison population in Wales.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
On 16 October, the Lord Chancellor announced additional, longer-term measures to reform the justice system and continue to address the prison capacity challenges. The Lord Chancellor’s measures apply to England and Wales and include:
o Extending the Early Removal Scheme (ERS) for foreign national offenders;
o Introducing a presumption that sentences of twelve months or less are suspended to reduce reoffending;
o Legislating to allow prisoners to be held in overseas prisons;
o Reviewing the incentives around early guilty pleas to save the courts time, spare victims the ordeal of giving evidence in court, and cut the number of people in our prisons on remand;
o Looking at options to tackle the injustice of the now abolished Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence and how the licence period could be reduced to restore greater proportionality to the IPP sentence;
o Reviewing our Home Detention Curfew (HDC) policy to increase the number of prisoners eligible for this successful rehabilitative measure;
o Reviewing the use of recall for offenders on release who infringe the terms of their licence; and,
o A new annual statement on prison capacity and up to £400m of funding for more prison places (enough to buy 800 new Rapid Deployment Cells).
The Government will continue to carefully monitor the evolving situation with demand for prison places so that we can make sure we have the right approaches in place to maintain the capacity required for a safe and effective criminal justice system.